Miles of beaches, notably in Taean county about 110 kilometres south west of Seoul, were smothered by the spillage.

The accident devastated the region's once-vibrant fishing and tourism industries, leading to a number of suicides by local residents as a legal wrangle over who qualified for compensation dragged on for years.

The court in the city of Daejeon set the total damage to area residents and businesses at 734.1 billion won ($694 million).

It is the first big step towards compensating those affected by the oil leak.

Court spokesman, Choi Noo-Lim

It ordered Hebei Spirit Shipping, the owner of the super tanker, to shell out 145.8 billion won and Samsung Heavy Industries 5.6 billion won.

The London-based International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC) and the South Korean government are to cover 178.4 billion won and 404.3 billion won, respectively.

The payout is a record for environmental accidents in South Korea, but less than 20 per cent of the 4.2 trillion won originally sought by some 120,000 affected residents and businesses.

They have two weeks to file objections to the court's estimate.

"I'm afraid there will be objections by many, many residents whose compensation bids were either reduced or rejected... which will further delay actual payout to victims," Mr Choi said.

The IOPC may also challenge the figure, which is far higher than its own assessment.

You have no doubt been hearing a lot about the Paris Agreement and know that it pertains to climate change, but are too embarrassed at this stage to ask for an overall explanation of what it's all about.